Launch of Truly Grass Fed

Glanbia Ireland has recently launched Truly Grass Fed cheese on retail shelves in the United States. With a looming Brexit challenge, we need to diversify into new markets.

The proposed Glanbia Cheese mozzarella investment in Portlaoise will create an outlet for some cheese and we have also been developing the Japanese market since 2006 and are the number one Irish exporter.

Glanbia has considerable retail expertise in Ireland (consumer foods) and in the US (Glanbia Performance Nutrition). With a wholly owned facility in Idaho and a joint venture in New

Mexico, Glanbia Plc has significant scale and experience of the US cheese market – at over 400,000 tonnes per year, they are the largest manufacturer of American style cheese.

We believe firmly in Irish dairy’s outstanding sustainability credentials due to the huge investment you have made in your farms. We undertook detailed market research in conjunction with Bord Bia and identified a niche opportunity in the “natural” food segment with verifiable claims.

We approached Ornua to jointly develop the Truly Grass Fed brand for the USA and fully shared all the market research. They declined the opportunity.

The Truly Grass Fed brand plays in the growing “natural” segment of the market, with particular focus on informed consumers seeking products with verifiable claims.

Regarding claims that the launch of Truly Grass Fed will undermine Kerrygold, we believe that:

1. Truly Grass Fed’s proposition is significantly different to Kerrygold. It is focusing on aspirational, clean and ethical, unadulterated natural product. Kerrygold is defined by tradition, taste and quality metrics;
2. Truly Grass Fed stands to to grow market share for Irish farmers, as well as enticing new consumers into the category.

We see this as an opportunity to grow Ireland’s dairy footprint. For example, new whiskey brands have grown the total market for Irish whiskey.

Regarding media commentary on pricing, the recommended retail price of Truly Grass Fed is $5.99 per 7oz pack, which is the same as Kerrygold (In some stores it may be on promotion for a lower price at a point in time). Price competition is not the Glanbia strategy in this premium market segment.

As its largest shareholder and supplier Glanbia is and will continue to be a strong supporter of Ornua. Glanbia’s nominees on the board of directors of Ornua have made a valuable contribution to Ornua and will continue to do so.

In a country with a growing milk pool and a looming Brexit challenge, we believe that Glanbia farmers cannot be deprived of the opportunities to grow market share in a US retail cheese market worth $15 billion.

From an Irish perspective this will require multiple brands targeting different market segments, especially in the context of Ornua’s current 0.3% market share of the $13 billion US retail cheese market..

Ornua has for many years been in competition with many of its members on international markets. Glanbia will continue to develop markets to increase the value of its products and the consequent returns to you, our farmers.

First Published 19 November 2018